I've been trying to figure out the sequence of the first 10 ascents or so, but everybody seems to have a different opionion. i'm hoping to get some clarity with dates and what not. would love to hear from mike waugh and jerry moffat who did early ascents. hears how i remember it
1) bachar and yerian 81
2) schneider and scott frye 83
3) kurt smith and ed barry 84
4) mike waugh and darryl nakahira
5) moffat and partner ?

i'm positive about the first 3, despite what cristian griffith claims he heard from bachar

other early notables
scott cosgrove and partner
rob oravetz(seconded by cosgrove)
christian griffith and tim wagner

this is some help. who is todd worsfold. summer of 85 would make him in the top ten. i'll ask burke where he came in, i know he's done the route more than anybody.
jan, you know mike? i would love to hear his timeline, i think summer of 84 is more likely than fall, it gets kind of cold
mark, NO DEAL. the deal was for you, me, and shelly. without the t and a its less attractive.

Trad climber
California Jun 29, 2009 - 04:49pm PT
I can, I did the fifth ascent of the B/Y and Bacher didn't sneak up to the base but walked up with me to take photos. I had train climbing knobs for about a month and basically just climbed as fast as I could to get it over with.

The third pitch gave me a little pause where everyone before me had broken off a few holds but I managed to wiggle by. John got some great photos.

I did it again many years latter and it felt about 11c, great climb.

I think, the thing I really still find amazing is, running it out that far hanging on a hook and drilling for fifteen minutes. Pure terror.

Steve, Todd W. was an old school little known climber from N. Tahoe (now in S.F.) who moved out from the east coast in '83ish. I first met him through wally (Paul Tier) and wanky (Dave Le winter) and the North Tahoe boys. He was a heady confident climber with nerves of steel.
His FIRST El Cap route was a SOLO ascent of Eagles Way (on a recommendation from Troy Johnson) in '84/85 after his partner for the Nose bailed on him two weeks prior. He has also done repeats of seldom climbed Calaveras Dome sketch fests's authored by the late Dick Richardson.
On a summer day in '85 after frying the night before, Todd led every pitch of the BYR not knowing exactly what he was even on. In the summer of '86 he suggested that he and I go and do it together. I thought I might be capable of doing one of the leads so I agreed (bad joke). He led the first pitch and I cut my right index finger badly trying to just follow it. Blessing in disguise. I was nowhere near capable of doing the thing. We bailed.

Back to the topic at hand, Todd did an early ascent of the BYR in early summer '85. I just got off the phone with him and it brought back some good memories, hope this helps straighten the record.

Sept 1985 It was a late evening attempt, the Trons Challenged me to climb this immortal piece of stone, I remember up and down climbing several times just to clip the first bolt, I reached the belay at the first pitch(NO FALLS) at dusk, I trailed a rope and raped of those infamies bolts and remember pulling the cord in the dark. I left the next day back to the OC. never to return?????????

close but no cigar
British Headpointer Tries Bachar-Yerian on Natural Gear
Issue 172

In 1981 John Bachar cast off into the uncharted expanse of Mendlicott Dome, a steep 500-foot, knob-spackled granite face in Tuolumne Meadows, California, with nothing but a hand drill and bolts, some slings, hooks and cams. Climbing onsight and belayed by Dave Yerian, he established the litmus test for runout climbing, the Bachar-Yerian (5.11c R). Over the years, climbers have assayed their mental fortitude against Bachar’s standard by stepping up to onsight this piéce de résistance. Some succeeded, but others, famously, didn’t. Wolfgang Güllich (one of the strongest climbers in the world before his untimely death in a car crash), for example, broke a brittle foothold and zipped 60 feet onto his belayer while trying to make the second ascent.

In July, the 19-year-old English climber George Ullrich attempted to better Bachar’s style by skipping the nine bolts and protecting the face entirely with natural runners. Ullrich had already repeated some of the British Isles’ boldest headpoints, both on gritstone and, more recently, in the Lake District, where he sent two of Dave Birkett’s sparsely protected lines, Impact Day and Dawes Rides a Shovel Head. Both lines are rated E8 6c, which translates to scary, dangerous 5.13 climbing protected entirely by natural gear.

With that kind of background training, it’s no surprise that Ullrich managed to onsight the Bachar-Yerian while clipping the bolts, but his decision to try the line without the fixed pro might leave people scratching their heads, since the route largely lacks cracks that accept gear. Ullrich spent another day on the climb sussing placements, which, for the most part, consisted of slings hitched around the suspect knobs, and then he went for the send. Six feet from the third-pitch anchors (and the end of the difficulties), Ullrich balked, opting to clip the last bolt, and bringing his historic bid to elevate America’s iconic testpiece to a close.

Q&A

Why did you decide to try the Bachar-Yerian without the bolts?

After climbing it with Mason “Bob” Earle with bolts, I was excited to see that it looked possible to protect most of the climb by slinging chicken heads with small slings and cord, and I thought it would be fun to give it a bash. I climbed it once more clipping the bolts and I felt comfortable—kinda comfortable, actually. We got rained off the last pitch so I wasn’t able to check it out.

What happened at the end of the third pitch on your attempt without bolts?

Halfway up that bit, I realized that I didn’t actually have any decent protection to hold a fall, and I had only climbed the top section once before. After fiddling a crap wire into a hole, I was sketching and thought it sensible to clip the bolt a few meters up. A wise decision, as I did not feel comfortable on the top few moves. The crux of the route is halfway up the first pitch, protected by a sky-hook and a couple of cams below the break, but the top section is the psychological crux.